Medieval Azerbaijani Weapons in European Museums

Traditional crafts

Sabuhi AHMADOV Doctor of Philosophy in History Medieval Azerbaijani weapons in European museums

hile studying medieval Azerbaijani weapons, it is necessary to take into account exhib- Wits kept and displayed at world museums as material and cultural artifacts. Along with production aimed at meeting mass demand, medieval craftsmen also fulfilled orders from the military-political leader- ship of the state and made weapons that stood out not only for their combat properties, but also artistic design. Such weapons were always looked after, protected and handed down from generation to generation. In the course of historical events, these weapons were taken out of Azerbaijan in various ways and are now on display in the world’s leading museums and private collections. Medieval Azerbaijani weapons are kept at a number of European museums that have rich collections of weapons. Medieval Azerbaijani weapons in German museums. Among German museums, the largest collection of weapons of Turkic peoples is kept in Dresden. Kur- furst August II began to collect Muslim weapons of the

Fragment of the front part of the armor of the Aqqoyunlu state. The Turkic Chamber, Dresden Museum

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Armor of the Aqqoyunlu state. The Turkic Chamber, Dresden Museum

www.irs-az.com 25 Traditional crafts museum in the 18th century (10, p. 314). For example, was made of branches and has a steel umbo fixed in the among the more than 600 exhibits kept at the Turkish middle (6, p. 243). Chamber (Türckische Cammer), which is an integral Medieval Azerbaijani weapons in British muse- part of the Dresden Armory (Rüstkammer), there are ums. Azerbaijani weapons are kept at the British Mu- weapons belonging to the Azerbaijani Aqqoyunlu and seum, Victoria and Albert Museum and Royal Armory. Safavid states and made by Azerbaijani craftsmen. The collection of Islamic art at London’s British Museum, One of the unique exhibits of the Dresden Turkish one of the largest museums in the world, includes more Chamber is armor belonging to a 15th century Aqqoyun- than 40,000 exhibits. Among them are quite a few his- lu fighter. This chainmail-type armor is based on a shirt torical artifacts made in Azerbaijan (1, p. 74-80). A study made from steel rings joined together. In the belly part revealed medieval Azerbaijani weapons in the British of the armor, there are eight steel pieces joined togeth- Museum, including weapons belonging to the period er and decorated with silver and gold inscriptions. In the under review. back of the armor, there are small pieces in three rows A veil-type steel helmet belonging to the end of from the collar to the waist. There are 15 pieces in each the 15th century is shown as an exhibit made in the row. On the right and left sides of the armor, there are Aqqoyunlu state. There are two semi-elliptic slots for four pieces placed vertically from the waist to the arm- the eyes in the front of the high mouth circle. The sides pits. The armor has its own arm protectors stretching of the mouth circle and eye slots are reinforced with a to the elbow, hems stretching to the knees and a collar metal frame. Between the eye slots, there is a reinforce- protecting the throat and the neck (3, No 3, p. 43). ment piece to protect the nose. The bottom part wid- The horse armor on display at the Dresden Turkish ens towards the mouth circle and gradually moves to- Chamber is believed to belong to the 15th-16th centu- wards the crest. In the bottom there are vertical narrow ries, and according to German specialists, it was used in frets. A protuberant rivet can be seen on the right and the Aqqoyunlu and Safavid states (3, No 2, p, 42). The ar- left sides of the trunk. It is believed that earplugs (metal mor consists of steel parts joined together: head, neck, pieces protecting the ears) were hung from these rivets. chest, sides and back. The part that protects the head The crest gradually becomes narrower and turns into a consists of a steel forehead and cheek parts made from crown towards the top. The crown consists of two parts. pieces and rings hanging from it. The lower part consists of a board decorated with a bak- There are also offensive weapons belonging to the lava motif; the “baklavas” look in four directions, and a Safavid state kept at the Dresden Turkish Chamber. It hole was made in the middle of each “baklava”. must be noted that although these weapons are known Another veil-type steel helmet kept at the British Mu- as those of 16th century Safavid fighters, they are shown seum is shown as an exhibit made in northwestern Iran as “Iranian” exhibits. (in other words, in South Azerbaijan) at the end of the The arms of the bows of 16th century Safavid fighters 15th century. In the front of the high mouth circle there were made from wood and the central part from horns are two semi-elliptic slots for the eyes. Both the mouth and tendons and painted in different colors (3, No 14, circle and the edges of the eye slots are reinforced with p. 50). The tips of the combat axes of 16th century Safa- a metal frame, but unlike other helmets of this type, the vid fighters have an elongated cutting part and a wide frame is extremely wide and has a flowery pattern with strong back (3, No 63, p. 80). There are delicate gold pat- holes. There are also patterns on the frame that covers terns on the axe. The blade of the 16th century Safavid the mouth circle. There are protuberances with holes in sword is slightly bent. In the small decorative cartouche the mouth circle. A metal net made of rings hangs from on the blade there is an inscription saying “The servant the metal cable going through these protuberances. of Shahi Shams, Shukrullah” and “Shukrullah, the servant The net is long enough to protect the neck completely of Shahi Shams” (3, No 140, p. 150) and the sides of the throat from blows. In the trunk there A 15th century Aqqoyunlu sword kept at the Dres- are curve-like wide diagonal stripes. The trunk becomes den History Museum stands out for its uniqueness. The wider towards the mouth circle and gradually turns into sword consists of a smooth bone handle and a slightly a crest. The crest gradually becomes narrower and turns bent steel blade. The entire surface of the blade is deco- into a crown towards the upper part, but the crown it- rated with gilded flowery patterns (6, p. 253). Another self has not survived to this day. Specialists of the mu- exhibit that belongs to the Safavid state is a shield. It seum managed to read not the whole text, but different

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Horse armor of the Aqqoyunlu state. The Turkic Chamber, Dresden Museum

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tions on the helmet: “This gold helmet was completed in 1035. May the head wearing it remain safe.” “This gold helmet with jewels on my head under the rule of the conqueror of the world and pillar of the world, Shah Ab- bas. His helmet looks like a shining moon, how can I de- scribe him.” “This gold helmet was completed under the rule of Shah Abbas, a king of kings like Darius, generous, glorious and well-known, conqueror of the world and a king who has influence from China to Sham. Such a helmet is becoming of a shining fighter. May those who wear this helmet be happy…” A greave kept at the British Museum is believed to belong to the end of the 15th century. The exhibition which displays the greave says that it was made in the Aqqoyunlu state. The greave consists of three steel pieces and metal rings that connect them. The central piece follows the shape of the leg and sticks out in the lower part – in the ankle. There are holes for rivets on the small pieces in order to fasten it on the leg. The collection of the museum also has a kneepiece belonging to the end of the 15th century. This additional defensive element, which has a traditional design, consists of a knee pad, metal pieces that protect the thigh and a hanging ringed net. The museum also has the head of a combat axe made in the Safavid state in 1550-1600. The head of the combat axe is made from steel and is decorated with animal and flowery patterns. The axe was bought by the museum from E. Begyan. The surface of the head, which is 16.3 cm long, is straight and the lower part is shaped as a crescent. It was possible to hit with the Helmet of the Aqqoyunlu / Safavid state. Military Museum, Leeds back of the head. Prominent Egyptian researcher A. Zaki notes that there is the name of Shah Abbas on one of the kulah- expressions on the helmet: “Al-Alim al-Adil”, “al-Muiz”, khud type helmets in the British Museum (9, p. 28). “al-Mavlana”, “al-Sultan al-Azam”, “Khagan”, “al-Muazzam Among the weapons kept at the British Museum, Malik al-Umam”. a sword belonging to the 12th-13th centuries and its The British Museum also keeps a helmet of the ku- sheath stand out for their uniqueness. The sword has a lah-khud type made in the Safavid state on 1625-26. straight handle and a slightly bent steel blade. A rein- The height of the main part of the helmet handed over forcement stripe goes through the middle of the blade. to the museum by John Henderson is 25.4 cm and the Another British museum which keeps oriental weap- height together with the net made from rings is 42 cm. ons is the Royal Armories Museum in Leeds. The mu- The spherical cone-shaped helmet has a crown on top, seum, which has more than 70,000 exhibits, has five a nose protector on the forehead and two pipes for galleries: Military, Knights, Self-Defense, Hunting and feathers in the front. A net made from rings hangs from East. A 12th century bronze mace kept at the Leeds mu- the lower part of the helmet. A long net protects the seum and found in Iranian territory (region not defined) back and sides of the head while a short net made from weighs 800 grams and is 11.5 cm long. The weight of rings protects the forehead. the behtar-type Safavid weapon kept at the museum Specialists of the museum read the following inscrip- is 8.1 kg. The weight of the Safavid sword kept at the

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Helmets of the Aqqoyunlu / Safavid state. British Museum, London museum is 0.6 kg and length – 81cm (8, p. 75, 170, 186). London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, one of the world’s largest applied art museums, has a major collection of oriental weapons. Among them are 15th and 16th century veil-type helmets (4, pp. 274-276). However, since there is no scientific research in this field, the clear origin of a number of oriental weapons in the museum is not known and the weapons are displayed as “Iranian Leg protector of the Aqqoyunlu state. weapons” or “Turkish weapons”. British Museum, London Nasser D. Khalili, a prominent art critic and collector living in the United Kingdom, has a collection of 25,000 artifacts. The Khalili Family Trust unites five independent mask for the fighter to breathe. The eye slots are circu- collections, including a collection called the Arts of the lar. The nose has a straight shape and there are gilded Islamic World. The collection includes weapons, includ- flowery patterns on the cheeks. The mouth is shaped as ing those belonging to medieval Azerbaijani states. a straight line. The moustache is straight and its tips are A combat mask kept in the collection has a unique bent towards the ears. The mask with a size of 20x16.5 design (2, cat. 25, p. 55-57; 5, cat. 221, pp. 186-187). The cm is made of steel while its hanging details are made mask is attached to a helmet with six rivets along the from copper. According to D. Alexander, an orientalist upper edge. The mask was made in the form of a hu- and author of a catalog dedicated to Nasser D. Khalili’s man face. The mask is elongated and has a wide fore- collection of weapons, the mask was made at the re- head, a sharp elongated nose, wide dense eyebrows, quest of Aqqoyunlu fighters in Derbend at the end of almond-shaped eye slots, convex cheeks and a narrow the 15th century and is believed to have been used by moustache stretching from the chin to the ears. There Ottoman fighters later. are small holes under the nose and in the mouth of the A helmet kept in the collection belongs to veil-type www.irs-az.com 29 Traditional crafts

The chain mail belonging to the end of the 15th or early 16th century is 86 cm long. In the front of the armor, eight square steel pieces and four steel pieces on the right and left sides are connected to the ringed base. The chain mail was usually used as a protective weapon by heavily-armed horsemen and the command of the troops. A 15th century horse cap kept in the collection car- ried the name of Huseyn b. Alikhan Jahangir. Accord- ing to D. Alexander, Huseyn b. Alikhan Jahangir (killed in Tabriz in 1497) was a brother of Aqqoyunlu ruler Uzun Hasan, and the horse cap was made in the tradition of Aqqoyunlu weaponry (2, cat.40, pp. 86–89). Medieval Azerbaijani weapons in French museums. Exhibits brought from the East have a special place in collections of French history and archaeology museums. Azerbaijani weapons are kept at the Louvre Museum, Army Museum (Musée de l’Armée) and the Museum of the Arab World Institute. The Furusiyya (knighthood) collection of the Muse- um of the Arab World Institute (Musée de l’Institut du monde arabe, Paris) displays not only weapon samples of the Arab world, but also of the Turkic peoples. Among the 8th and 9th century exhibits of the collection, there are weapons of Azerbaijani fighters as well. It has been established that a helmet kept in the museum’s Furusiyya collection was made in the State of the Shirvanshahs. It is known that the helmet was made by Azerbaijani craftsmen in the middle of the 15th century and has an inscription saying “Sultan, Sultan’s son Amir Khalilullah” (7, No 310, p. 323). It is indicated that the helmet belonged to Shirvanshah ruler Khalilullah I (1418-1463) (According to some researchers who cite the name “Khalil” on the helmet, the helmet may have Leg protectors of the Aqqoyunlu state. belonged to Aqqoyunlu Prince Khalil ibn Hasan (1441- Furusiyya Art Foundation collection, 1478), Uzun Hasan’s son). The part of the inscription that Museum of the Institute of the Arab World, Paris was read is as follows: “Sultan, Sultan’s son, Sultan Amir Khalilullah… May our ruler be glorious, may the great helmets (2. cat. 27, pp. 68, 70). The steel helmet with a sultan and wonderful khagan be glorious, prosperous height of 31.4 cm has a classic veil structure. The veil- and wealthy… Glory is in obedience. Wealth is modesty.” shaped helmet has a high mouth circle, a wide trunk, The helmet’s mouth circle and slots for the eyes are rein- a rising crest and a two-part crown. In the front of the forced with a metal frame. Along the mouth circle, there mouth circle, there are two semi-elliptic slots for the are protuberances with holes, but the ringed net hang- eyes. Protuberances with holes were attached to the ing from them has not survived. The nose protector has mouth circle. A metal net was hung from cables going not survived, and only connecting holes are there. The through these protuberances. The net protected the trunk is divided by wide diagonal stripes; flowery stripes neck and the throat. turn into written stripes. The crest is divided into two A padded-ringed armor kept in the collection be- horizontal stripes: the upper stripe has a flowery pattern longs to the type of chain mails (2, cat.26, pp.68–69). and the lower stripe has inscriptions.

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The frontal part of the horse armor of the Aqqoyunlu state. Furusiyya Art Foundation collection, Museum of the Institute of the Arab World, Paris

There is no doubt that another sample of a veil- type helmet was made by Azerbaijani craftsmen, and researchers note that it was made in South or North Azerbaijan (Shirvanshah or Aqqoyunlu state) (7, No 311, p. 324). A kneepiece, which belonged to a fighter of the 15th century Qaraqoyunlu or Aqqoyunlu states, kept at the museum’s Furusiyya collection, is one of the rare exhibits. The kneepiece was designed to protect the knee and the part from the knee to the waist. The 60- cm long kneepiece has three parts. The central part is an elliptic convex kneepad decorated with patterns and inscriptions. The part covering the thigh consists of pads and rings. Elongated steel pieces form nine rows here and are connected with rings. Leather belts (two pieces) are attached to the sides of the thigh part with rivets. There are several metal rings in order to connect the upper part of the thigh protector to the belt. The ringed net that was attached to the lower part and sides of the kneepiece and to the lower part of the thigh protector hung below the knee. The kneepiece is decorated with silver and gold patterns and inscriptions (7, No 291, p. 303). The Furisiyya collection has a second kneepiece too. It differs from the one described above only with its length (55.5 cm) and silver patterns and inscriptions (7, No 292, p, 304). Such a kneepiece was made in Iran, Anatolia and Shirvan and was com- mon in the 14th-16th centuries. A greave belonging to a fighter of 15th-16th century Azerbaijani states (Aqqoyunlu or Safavids) belongs to the padded-ringed type. The main part of the greave is three pieces made from steel. The pieces protect the part from the knee to the foot. The fact that the central piece is long allows us to assume that it was attached from the sides as the ankle sticks out at the bottom. The pieces are connected with steel rings. The greave, which has a total length of 39 cm, is designed for the leg (7, No 294, p. 306). The catalog of the collection notes that a similar greave is kept at the Los Angeles County Art Museum (7, p. 305). It is noted that an arm protector kept in the Furusi- yya collection was used in the Aqqoyunlu, Shirvanshah or Safavid states in the 15th, 16th or early 17th centuries and was made in South Azerbaijan or in the Caucasus. www.irs-az.com 31 Traditional crafts

The arm protector is made from steel and decorated teristic of Ottoman swords. However, studies by mu- with silver patterns. The arm protector with a length of seum employees revealed that the blade of the sword 28.5 cm consists of three steel pieces (one long piece belongs to a sword used by Safavid troops in the sec- from outside and two small ones from inside) and rings ond half of the 16th century. The slightly bent blade that connect them. According to researchers, the gold ends with a crest closer to its tip. parts on the arm protector were made in the Caucasus Thus, the study proves that Azerbaijani weapons (North Azerbaijan) in the 18th century (7, No 296, p. 308). made in the 15th-17th centuries have particularities that The Furusiyya collection also has two horse caps be- make them different from other Eastern countries. The longing to Azerbaijani states. One horse cap carries the establishment of these particularities makes it possible name of Qaraqoyunlu ruler Qara Yusif (1410-1417) (7, No to identify Azerbaijani weapons kept in European mu- 326, p. 340). The steel piece shaped as the forehead of a seums. horse has slots for the eyes. The rivets along the edges of the piece allow us to assume that a cloth was attached References: to the cap from inside. Such horse forehead armor was used in the Aqqoyunlu and Ottoman states. 1. Əfəndiyev R. Azərbaycan bədii sənətkarlığı dünya The horse cap belonging to the 16th century Safavid muzeylərində. Bakı, 1980 state kept in the collection is complete. For example, 2. Alexander D.G. The Arts of War: Arms and Armour cheek parts are added to its forehead steel part (/7, No of the 7th to 19th Centuries (The Nasser D. Khalili 327, p, 314). The 63-cm long forehead piece is not dif- Collection of Islamic Art,). Vol. XXI. London, 1992. ferent from the piece used in the 15th century. The pad- cat.25 ded-ringed cheek parts consist of upper and lower bits 3. Holger Schuckelt: Die Türckische Cammer: Sam- connected with rings. The bits, for their part, are made mlung orientalischer Kunst in der kurfürstlich-säch- from elongated pieces. sischen Rüstkammer Dresden. Dresden, 2010, The collection also has several offensive weapons № 3, s. 43 connected with 15th-17th century Azerbaijani states. A 4. North A. R. Islamic arms and armour // Connoiseur, 16th-17th century bow kept in the collection belonging 191, № 766 (april 1976), pp.274-279 to the Safavid state is made from steel (7, p. 384). The 5. Rogers J.M.. The Arts of Islam. Masterpieces upper and lower edges of the 94-cm bow are shaped from the Khalili Collection, London 2010, cat.221, like the head of a crane. In most cases, arms were made pp.186–187 from bone and wood and connected with tendon and 6. Schöbel Johannes. Prunkwaffen (Waffen und thread. The arms of the steel bow depict the pads and Rüstungen aus dem Historiscken museum Dres- lines of wooden bows of earlier periods. den). Berlin, Militärverlag der DDR, 1983, s.253 The Furusiyya collection has three archer’s rings be- 7. The Art of the Muslim Knight. The Furusiyya Art longing to the 17th century (7, p. 395). The narrow ring Foundation collection. Concept and direction by has a string shaped like a bird’s beak. Bashir Mohammed. Milano, 2008. №310, s.323 The Furusiyya collection includes a type of sword 8. Weapon. A visual history of arms and armours. owned by fighters of Azerbaijani states in the 15th-16th London, Dorlind Kindersley Limiled, 2006 centuries (7, p. 159). For example, the slightly bent steel 9. Zaky A.R. Introduction to the study of Islamic arms blade is wide and is reinforced with a convex stripe and armour // Gladius, 1961, v. I, pp. 17–29 in the middle. The handle is made of bone and has a 10. Винклер П. фон. Оружие. Руководство к исто- square cross-like head. The blade was decorated with рии, описанию и изображению ручного оружие gold flowery ornaments in the 18th century. с древнейших времён до начала XIX века. М., Although one sword kept in the Furusiyya collec- Софт-Мастер, 1992, 329 c. tion resembles an Ottoman sword, its blade was made in Azerbaijan (7, p. 62). The blade was made in the second half of the 16th century, but the gold patterns and inscriptions on it were made in the 18th-19th centuries. The handle of the sword has a straight cross-like and round and flat head, and these elements were charac-

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